Davis, a mother of two, said she is not happy. She showed up to the city’s Department of Health and Community Wellness on Monday morning for bottled water, a new filter, and, more importantly, some clarity, which she said has been pretty difficult to get.

Officials in Newark are urging residents in the Pequannock neighborhood to run their water for five minutes through a filter before using. (Photo: CBS2)

“Something should’ve been done a long time ago and they should’ve let us know,” Davis said. “It’s just like crazy. They need to fix the water.”

“I’m just hoping they come up with some type of solution to clean the water,” resident Selima Butcher added.

Others who showed up at designated locations to receive water were clearly losing their patience.

“I’m a senior citizen. I’m very concerned about the water situation because you don’t know what it’s gonna do to us,” Charleszine Goethe said.

Some even left empty handed after saying they were confused by long lists and wait times.

“We could be here all day long. I’m not waiting. Forget it, I can buy water!” Goethe said.

“No, they not organized, not at all,” another resident said.

Many said they were feeling added stress as they worry about their health with countless homes in Newark at risk.

“I have a granddaughter. She’s 5. I’m worried about her, I’m thinking about taking her to get lead levels checked,” Quadyrrah Adams said.

On Saturday, Mayor Ras Baraka said the filters are useful if people run their water for at least five minutes before using them.

“Testing showed that the filters were very effective in the locations that ran their water, which is why we encourage you to continue running the water to get fresh water in the pipes,” Baraka said.

Until more testing is done, the city is advising residents at roughly 15,000 homes in the Pequannock area to do that, because they have lead service lines. But some people had no idea until CBS2 told them.

Resident Herbert Yarborough said he’d “just run it for a minute or something and just drink it and that’s it, but I didn’t know we had to run it for five minutes.”

Even still, clearly there are no guarantees. So in the meantime the EPA is strongly urging people to use bottled water for drinking and cooking, saying boiling tap water does not effectively remove lead, which is especially risky for pregnant women and young children.